Cemetery Archives - Lost In Michigan

The Thumb’s Fire Victims

Posted on June 17, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, Thumb .

Argyle Township is located between Cass City and the Lake Huron shoreline. On a dirt road among the trees is an old cemetery that goes by several different names: Hillside, Cole, and Wheatland. In the middle of the old cemetery is a large marker memorializing some of its inhabitants and the first people to be laid to rest in the cemetery. They were victims of the Great Fire of 1881. The marker reads:

“In Loving Memory of John M. Cole and his wife Susan Seder Cole. Pioneer settlers who homesteaded this farm in 1866 and started this cemetery by finding and burying victims of the forest fire Sept 5, 1881. He was a Union soldier serving in the 61st Vol Inf Co, 8th Mich Cav Vo G.

Erected by Their Children, most of whom were born on this farm 40 rods south of this point.”

I can’t imagine what it must have been like for the Coles after the devastating fire. It must have been an enormous hardship, but they still took the time to locate the bodies of their neighbors and bury them.

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The Soldier in Riggsville Cemetery

Posted on May 14, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery .

West of Mullet Lake lies the small town of Riggsville, of which not much remains, though it boasts a beautiful old cemetery. The tombstone of Stephen Williams caught my attention, an American flag standing proudly beside it. He lived from 1841 to 1925 and was a corporal in Company K, 22nd Michigan Infantry. Some soldiers are laid to rest in large national cemeteries with their brothers and sisters, while others rest in small-town cemeteries, but all deserve to be remembered.

P.S Sorry I have been posting infrequently, I have been diligently working on my latest book. You can see my books on my Amazon page HERE

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The Troy Polar Bear

Posted on March 2, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, people .

In Troy’s White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery, next to I-75, a striking white marble polar bear monument stands out among the cemetery’s predominantly flat headstones. In 1918, as World War I neared its end, the Bolsheviks’ rise in Russia and their peace treaty with Germany alarmed the Allies. Concerned about German or Bolshevik seizure of Allied munitions in Archangel, Britain and France requested U.S. intervention. The U.S. deployed the “Polar Bears,” the American North Russian Expeditionary Forces to Archangel. About 75 percent of the 5,500 Americans who made up the North Russian Expeditionary Forces were from Michigan; of those, a majority were from Detroit.

Upon arrival, they found the munitions gone and were ordered to fight Soviet forces along the Vologda Railroad. Despite the November 11th armistice ending WWI, they continued fighting through the winter. Public outcry in Michigan eventually led to their extraction, delayed until June by the frozen harbor. In 1929, veterans secretly returned to Russia to recover fallen soldiers. The trip was sponsored by the federal government and the State of Michigan. The delegates recovered eighty-six bodies. Fifty-six of these were buried in 1930, in White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery and the monument was erected to honor them.

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The Legend of the Pine

Posted on October 10, 2024 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, upper peninsula .

While passing through Bay Mills in the Upper Peninsula I noticed a sign on the big pine tree in the Native American cemetery. It reads:

“THE LEGEND OF THIS PINE TREE – Among the Indians who moved from Nayohmekong to what is now the Indian mission at Bay Mills was a little girl of fifteen named Eliza (Waishkey) Labranch. (B Jan 4 1847 – D Nov 16 1917) It was Eliza who selected the tree, then only a twig, and planted it at the head of her grandfather Waishkey (Lawbawclic) grave. ( B 1778 – D 1847)

He was born of the Caribou Clan and Chief of the Waishkey Band of Chippewa Indians. The tree, a White Pine, was planted about the year 1848

I never noticed the sign before, but it reminds people that that a big tree has been standing a long time and it connects generations of people.

Note: I did not go into the cemetery and took a pic from the fence along the road.

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Ohioville Cemetery

Posted on September 5, 2024 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery .

Southwest of Burt Lake a few miles off M-68 is the Ohioville Cemetery. The sign shows it was established in 1882. From what I could find on the maps and my reference books there was no town in Michigan called Ohioville. Many of the veterans tombstones in the historic cemetery show that they were in the Ohio Infantry. It looks as if many Buckeyes moved from Ohio and settled in the area and I am wondering if it got the unofficial nickname of Ohioville. Whatever the story is, it is a beautiful old cemetery and I can understand moving to northern Michigan from Ohio. The area around Burt Lake is where I vacation every year for the past three decades.

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Tallman Cemetery

Posted on August 7, 2024 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery .

In the woods southwest of Cheboygan is a little cemetery with rows of small white unmarked crosses. It shows up on the map as Tallman Cemetery or Polish Cemetery. On a tree in the back is a wooden hand-made sign with lettering made from sticks and branches that spells out the word Tallman. I could not find any history about it, but It is a nice little cemetery. I wish I had a nifty story to go along with it but I guess it is just another almost forgotten cemetery. I am assuming the people laid to rest in it lived, worked, and died in northern Michigan.

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Michigan’s War Dog Memorial in Honor of K9 Veterans Day

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery .

Michigan War Dog Memorial in South Lyon

Michigan War Dog Memorial Cemetery

In 2013 The State of Michigan has declared March 13th K9 Veterans Day in recognition of the dogs and their handlers that have served our country. March 13 was chosen because, in 1942 the Quartermaster Corps of the U.S. Army began training dogs for the newly established War Dog Program, also known as the “K-9 Corps”. K9 Veterans Day is a time to honor all dogs that have served in the military, police and civilian working dogs and their handlers. I also like to remember the dogs that have served in the past and there is the Michigan War Dog Memorial and Cemetery is in South Lyon, on Milford and 11 Mile Road. It’s a beautiful memorial and final resting place for the dogs of Michigan that have served our country and state so faithfully.

Thank you to all the dogs and Handlers for their service, I can only Imagine the number of lives that were saved because of your dedication and loyalty.

Clare County Poor Farm

Posted on November 20, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Barns and Farms, Cemetery .

South of Harrison is a stairway that leads to a small field surrounded by stone pillars and metal fencing. It is the cemetery and all that remains of the old Clare County Poor Farm. There are no headstones or markers but it is believed that about 100 bodies are buried in the cemetery. The were former residents of the poor farm and died while living their.

The poor farm in Harrison was the third one constructed in Clare County, It was built in 1912 and renamed the Clare County Infirmary. It closed in 1945 and burned down a few years later. The former residents lay in their final resting place nearby without markers to remember their names.

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The Lonely Gravesite of Emma L. Northrup

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, people .

This lonely tombstone stands in the northern Michigan woods near Kingsley. It is for Emma L. Northrup who died while traveling with her parents. Her family was traveling by horse and buggy in 1875 from New York. They were traveling to Michigan to start a new life farming when 6 year old Emma became ill and died. They laid her body to rest along the trail. A new marker replaced an older one and is located near Mayfield and Knight Roads. When I visited there were many trinkets left at little Emma’s grave. It is near an ORV trail and many riders stop at the grave to pay there respects to the little girl laid to rest in the woods.

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The Haunted Cemetery On Dice Road

Posted on September 25, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, Haunted Places .

In the northwest corner of Saginaw county, north of Hemlock, there is an urban legend of a girl that haunts Dice Road Cemetery, like many urban legends, I think there is some truth that started the story.

As the story goes, 5 year old Anna Rhodes Fazio was living in Italy in 1816 with her family, when her father went insane, and set their house on fire, killing himself and her mother. Young Anna survived the fire, and sailed to America, and lived with her aunt in the area north of Hemlock. They became friends with the local Indians. Anna and a young Indian boy named Dark Hawk grew up together.

As Anna grew older she fell in love with Jonathan Millerton, and they were married, by the time Anna was 17. shortly after they two wed, Anna’s aunt died, and Jonathan had to sail the Great Lakes for his lumbering pursuits, leaving Anna alone. Dark Hawk became jealous of Jonathan, and began to sexually assault Anna, driving her into insanity. That summer a large storm swept across the state, and when Jonathan’s ship did not return she, feared him dead and committed suicide. Even more tragic, Jonathan returned home after she died, his ship sailed to a few other ports and delayed his return.

If you visit this cemetery please be respectful and follow posted rules.

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